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Buellride, RainorShine, and LovestheShiny visit Missoula for goodies!

LovestheShiny!

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I had the pleasure to meet Buellride and RainorShine on this last Friday morning up in Missoula. Both guys are from the general Seattle / Tacoma area, and had read stories on the Friendly Forum of the vast riches to be found in Missoula!:yes: I was delighted to welcome them, we headed out for a nice sit down breakfast and then put in a good full day of detecting. Buellride uses the CTX 3030 and RainorShine the Nox 800, and they both know their machines really well. Alas... I am still stuck with that "obsolete" AT Pro!

The very first yard we detected was a large mansion I had obtained permission ahead of time, with plenty of room for three detectorists. This home was built in the 1920's with lots of lawn. We split up the yard, and it soon became evident that the dirt and lawn had been replaced sometime in the recent past. RainorShine found the only silver there, a nice 1940's Geo. Washington quarter, and some wheat pennies. Targets were sparse for Buellride and myself, not even much clad, but we gave it a good try. We then headed to some neighborhoods that had been productive for me in the past, and I soon landed permission at several yards. One yard produced really well for me, with 4 Silver Dimes (3 Mercs and a Rosie), while my guests were pulling wheat pennies and modern clad. We did get permission at more yards, and I was able to pull 3 more Mercury dimes, giving me 7 for the day! Buellride pulled a Silver Rosie and Sterling arrowhead, and RainorShine got a Merc Dime and a nice childs' Sterling and Turquoise ring. Some of this is hard to exactly remember as we did a ton of yards and some curb strips! We did get nice Steak Dinners at a local Montana Club restaurant...mmmm tasty, thank you for the treat, guys!

We met again on Saturday morning, and both Buellride and RainorShine did well. I was able to get permissions at yards dating from the late 1890's into the 1930's. My best finds for the day were two more silver dimes (Merc & Rosie), a clad Kennedy Half, an IHP and 1911 "V" nickel, while Buellride found more silvers in a yard and curb strip, and RainorShine pulled several nice Indian Head cents, and another Sterling Ring, along with a couple of Mercury dimes from a section of Curb Strip. We also headed to my 1950's apartment complex to just see what the CTX and Nox could do there. I left my AT Pro in the car and helped out with the finds. RainorShine started out with a Silver Rosie, and then a Silver War Nickel. Not to be outdone, soon after that, Buellride called my name and tossed me some big hunk of something... turned out he had just pulled his 3rd ever MORGAN SILVER DOLLAR, a 1902 in a silver bezel, shown in a separate thread! That about polished off the evening, and I headed back to Hamilton.

The last day, Sunday, started out well for my guests. I had music at church until about noon, and then headed up to Missoula. By then, the guys had gotten permission at a couple of yards, and between the two of them had 5 Silvers! We joined forces and I was able to obtain a couple more permissions, and RainorShine did really well on one section of nearby curb strip, where in front of one home, he pulled a 2 Buffalo Nickel / Merc Dime spill, a Barber Dime, and a nice "V" nickel along with some wheats. Later he dug a rare "Walkerville, M. T." (Montana Territory) trade token which may be very valuable, pics of that token follow below. We then tried a couple of large yards, with lots of wheaties. I did find the only silver, a Rosie, which put my silver coin total at 10 for the group hunt, and I did get a Sterling earring with beautiful blue stone. Buellride did pull a nice Honker STERLING ring, which put him at 11 silvers (9 coins and 2 jewelry) for the hunt. As we were winding up the day, RainorShine passed his coil over a "35-36" on the Nox, and of course he had to see what that was... well... a nice 1921 MORGAN SILVER DOLLAR out of the curb strip! I was up close helping out and saw that puppy in the dirt, and RainorShine was delighted with his first ever Silver Dollar find! Yeah... silver dollars must be as common as wheaties here in Montana!:lol:

We did have one unusual and interesting part of the hunts... I had gotten permission from an elderly lady whose house had a small front yard. I think we pulled a couple of wheats and not much more, but she came out before I left and handed me 3 Ben Franklin Silver Half Dollars, one for each of us! I supposed they "could" count as detecting finds!:) Buellride and RainorShine were happy with the extra goodies!

A really fun and rewarding time was had by the three of us, my new Seattle area friends were great to be with, and we all did really well. Thank you Buellride and RainorShine for spending the weekend here detecting!

First pic shows Buellride's best finds, second pic RainorShine's best finds, next pics my best finds, last two pics are of the Montana Territory token found by RainorShine.
 

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Lovetheshiny is one of the nicest guys I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He was willing to "give up" his best hunting grounds and was accommodating to a fault. He sometimes was literally running ahead knocking on doors looking for more permissions.
I honestly don't think I will ever experience another hunting expedition like this again. In the end, I collected 32 wheat cents, many of them dating to the 'teens and twenties, 3 Indian cents, 2 Buffalo nickels, 1 "V" nickel, 1 War nickel, 3 Mercs, 1 Rosie, 1 Barber dime, 2 silver rings, 2 old tokens, 1 Red Ryder Penney's token and a 1921 D Morgan Dollar. Finally made the silver dollar club! Best thing is both David and Paul were there to witness the recovery. Next best is I didn't even stab it.
An incredible trip and incredible memories. And if there is ever a humanity award for detectorist, David should get it. I refer you to his recent posting about the handicapped boy near his house and also to his efforts with the elderly lady who lost a ring (which he found for her) and stayed just to talk to her, sensing she was kind of lonely (she's the one who gave him the three Benjamins). He also spent about 45 minutes helping and elderly couple locate their "lost" sprinkler heads! Good Karma for him. Give him a shout out if you can, good hunting to all and be safe.
 
This is a great write up story of 3 strangers with 1 common passion meeting up and having an awesome time together. No matter our differences in life , metal detecting is a positive common thread we have here on this forum. Great hunt guys !
 
Thank you for the kind words RainorShine, it was a pleasure to have you here and detect together!

This is a great write up story of 3 strangers with 1 common passion meeting up and having an awesome time together. No matter our differences in life , metal detecting is a positive common thread we have here on this forum. Great hunt guys !

Thanks KOB! Yep... metal detecting can make friendships and this one did for sure!
 
Very good write-up of an all around excellent group weekend detecting experience. Good to hear it all went so well!
I'm getting the impression there's a lot of kind folks in Missoula, and their grandparents were loose with the pocket change, tokens, jewelry, and probably everything else. :yes:
P.S. That token just reeks of awesomeness!!
 
good play-by-play and photo-spread as usual. I LUV the 12.5c token !
 
Very good write-up of an all around excellent group weekend detecting experience. Good to hear it all went so well!
I'm getting the impression there's a lot of kind folks in Missoula, and their grandparents were loose with the pocket change, tokens, jewelry, and probably everything else. :yes:
P.S. That token just reeks of awesomeness!!

Thank you Foragist! Yes, an excellent group and good finds! Missoula is a pretty friendly town, as is Montana in general. And what a nice token, turns out it is pretty rare too.

good play-by-play and photo-spread as usual. I LUV the 12.5c token !

Thank you Tom, yep, that token is cool!
 
It looks like that token was holed with a square nail, or maybe 2 punches with a flat blade tool. For a minute there, I was wondering what was originally in that spot, next to the M. I realized it must have been MT. for Montana. Looking again, the hole punched looks kind of like a t. Coincidence...or clever placement? :?:
 
It looks like that token was holed with a square nail, or maybe 2 punches with a flat blade tool. For a minute there, I was wondering what was originally in that spot, next to the M. I realized it must have been MT. for Montana. Looking again, the hole punched looks kind of like a t. Coincidence...or clever placement? :?:

I think you are right, Foragist, it sure looks like the token was punched with a square nail. The lettering at the bottom is M. T. spaced out like that for Montana Territory.

You guys killed it. Awesome group of finds, congrats! Reall love that territorial token.

Thank you Jamflicker!

Whatever you guy are doing, don't change the recipe for finding those silvers. Congrats to all of you!!

Thank you JAK!

Great memories for you all to share!

Yep, thanks ToySoldier!
 
Congrats on your great day. Thanks for the detailed write up, really enjoyed that. Some VERY nice individual finds as well as the fantastic overall tally!
 
Really? That's even better! Quick little googly poke says it was called that from 1864 to 1889, so that's probably your initial date range there. Awesome indeed!

Yes, Montana was a Territory from 1864- Nov 8th 1889. Walkerville is now a suburb of Butte Montana, and founded as a mining town.

Congrats on your great day. Thanks for the detailed write up, really enjoyed that. Some VERY nice individual finds as well as the fantastic overall tally!

Thank you Charlie!
 
Nothing better than meeting and enjoying the adventure with new friends. Congrats to all three of you on some tremendous success over the weekend. David I hope that Paul and Gale will again make that trip to the Silver Dollar State for another great get together. Lots of beautiful Shine in the Coins and Bling. Obviously well earned. Amazing time. Trapper
 
Incredible hunts between the three of you! Each of you did fantastic. :wow2: The silver dimes you uncovered look great!
 
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